CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46; PRINCESS

The concrete floor was stained with old blood that never quite washed away. The cage walls pressed in, trapping you with opponents who were just as desperate, just as terrified, just as willing to kill to survive.

She remembered, no, Lin Shuyin remembered, the last time. A few days ago. The woman they’d put her against, someone twice her size with nothing left to lose. The feel of knuckles cracking against her ribs. The taste of blood in her mouth.

The crowd who were screaming for more, always more. Then the guards, who were watching with bored expressions, were placing bets on which one of the inmates would fall first.

That’s how she’d gotten these injuries. That’s how she had ended up dying in this cell.

The footsteps stopped directly outside their cell door.

A key scraped in the lock, the sound harsh and metallic in the heavy silence. The door swung open with a groan of protesting hinges, and three guards stood silhouetted in the doorway, backlit by the harsh fluorescent lights of the corridor beyond.

The one in the middle was tall and broad-shouldered, with a face that looked like it had been carved from granite and possessed twice the compassion. Guard Chen. Shuyin’s borrowed memories supplied his name along with a flash of him standing ringside, laughing as an inmate begged for mercy.

To his left stood Guard Wu, shorter but stockier, with small, mean eyes that gleamed with anticipation. He was the worst of them, the one who enjoyed the fights a little too much, who sometimes placed bets on how long it would take for bones to break.

The third guard, Guard Zhang, was younger than the others, perhaps late twenties, with a face that might have been handsome if not for the hardness around his mouth and eyes. He was the one who handled the logistics, who collected the money from the spectators, and kept the records that would never see the official light.

"Well, well," Guard Chen’s voice was like gravel grinding against stone. "Look who’s all healed up. That was so fast, Princess. Real fast. Truly magical..."

His eyes narrowed as he noticed Shuyin sitting upright, no longer the broken, dying thing they’d thrown in here days ago. Suspicion flickered across his face, but before he could voice it, Guard Wu stepped forward with a bundle of black cloth in his arms.

"No time for questions," Wu said, his voice carrying that edge of excitement that made Blade’s stomach turn. "We’ve got a special event tonight. High-profile guests. Premium rates. The boss wants premium entertainment."

He threw the bundle at Tank, who caught it reflexively. Black hoods. Four of them.

Tank stared down at the cloth in her hands, her face carefully blank, but Shuyin could see the white-knuckle tension in her grip, the way her breathing had gone shallow and controlled. She’d worn this hood before. They all had.

"All four of you," Guard Zhang said, pulling out a clipboard and checking something off with clinical efficiency. "The boss wants a special variety tonight. The brawler, the blade specialist, the quick one, and..." his eyes lingered on Shuyin with something between curiosity and cruel amusement, "the Princess. Again."

"She nearly died last time," Blade said, trying to keep her voice level even though they all knew it was pointless. "A few days ago she was..."

"And look at her now," Guard Chen cut her off, gesturing toward Shuyin with mock amazement. "Sitting up. Looking healthy. Almost like magic." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "The crowd loved her last time. Loved watching the rich girl get her face beaten in. Tonight they want a rematch."

Razor’s hands were trembling as Tank passed her one of the hoods. The youngest among them had only been to the ring twice, but twice was enough. The screaming. The blood. The way the guards would let the fights go on long past any reasonable stopping point, milking every moment of violence for the crowd’s entertainment.

"Move it!" Guard Wu barked, slamming his baton against the cell bars with a metallic clang that made them all flinch. "We’re on a schedule. Guests are already arriving."

Tank began distributing the remaining hoods, her eyes meeting each of her companions in turn. When she reached Shuyin, she hesitated, searching that glowing jade eye for, what? Recognition of their shared nightmare? Understanding of what they were about to face?

What she saw there made her pause.

There was no fear in those reptilian eyes. No dread or resignation.

Instead, there was something cold and analytical, something that assessed the three guards with the detachment of a predator calculating odds. It was there for just a moment before Shuyin took the hood with steady hands.

But in that moment before the hood covered her face, something else happened.

Shuyin blinked, and her vision suddenly shifted.

The world exploded into layers of translucent depth. The concrete walls of the cell became semi-transparent, revealing the rebar and electrical conduits hidden within. She could see through them, her jade eye piercing matter itself as if it were made of water.

Beyond their cell, she saw the corridor. Every detail is razor-sharp despite the solid wall between them. The scuff marks on the floor. The flickering fluorescent light needed replacing. And further, she could see into other cells. Inmates huddled in corners. Guards making their rounds.

The entire prison layout spreads out before her like a three-dimensional map made of ghostly, transparent layers.

Her vision extended forward, following the path the guards would take them. Through walls and doors and barriers that should have blocked her sight. Down corridors. Through checkpoints. And there, deep in the prison’s belly, she saw it.

The fighting ring.

A large circular space, concrete floor surrounded by chain-link fencing that curved up and over to form a cage. The crowd was already gathering, shapes and shadows that her penetrating vision rendered in eerie clarity. Rich men in expensive suits. Corrupt officials. Even some women had faces twisted with anticipation of violence. The guards are positioned around the perimeter. The betting tables were set up in the corners.

And in the center, already stained dark with old blood, the floor where they would fight.

Shuyin’s jade eyes took it all in, memorizing every detail, every exit, every potential advantage.

The vision was overwhelming, too much information flooding her consciousness at once, but she forced herself to focus, to catalog what she saw.

Then she blinked again, and the vision collapsed back to normal. The walls became solid once more. The distant ring disappeared from view.

But she remembered. Every detail burned into her memory.

"Put them on," Guard Chen ordered, his voice sharp with impatience. "And no funny business. You know the rules. You know what happens to anyone who causes trouble."

They knew. Shuyin’s borrowed memories supplied the knowledge, inmates who resisted never made it to the ring. They "fell" in the corridors. Tragic accidents. No witnesses except the guards who all told the same story.

One by one, they pulled the hoods over their heads.

The black cloth settled over Shuyin’s face, blocking out the jade glow of her eye. The fabric was rough and smelled of fear, hundreds of inmates before them had worn these same hoods, walked this same path.

It was thick enough to block out most light but thin enough to breathe through, leaving them in claustrophobic darkness.

But Shuyin discovered something.

Even through the hood, even with her eyes covered, she could still feel it. That strange penetrating vision, like a sixth sense hovering at the edge of her consciousness. Not as clear as before, but present. A vague awareness of the space around her, of the walls and the guards and her three companions.

It was disorienting, this double perception, the darkness of the hood layered over that phantom sense of sight.

She filed the knowledge away. Another ability in this strange new body. Another tool she could use.

"Line up," Guard Zhang commanded. "Single file. Princess in front, then Razor, then Blade, Tank at the back. Hands where we can see them. Mouths shut. If anyone makes a sound, everyone pays for it."

They shuffled into position, blind and vulnerable to anyone who couldn’t see through solid matter.

Shuyin felt a rough hand grab her upper arm, Guard Chen, his grip deliberately tight enough to hurt. He pulled her forward, and she let herself stumble slightly, playing the part of the disoriented prisoner.